Road project could make it easier to get to Interstate 10

THIBODAUX -- The first phase of a state project to extend La. 3213 from the Gramercy-Wallace Bridge to La. 3127 in Vacherie will begin in mid-July.

A state Transportation Department department engineer said Wednesday that the project could eventually be extended past La. 3127 south to Thibodaux, giving area residents a more direct route to Interstate 10.

"This may be the first piece of the puzzle," said DOTD engineer Jeff Burst, who is the project engineer for the first phase.

Byron Talbot of Byron E. Talbot Contractors said his company had a pre-construction meeting about the first phase of the project a week ago and expects to begin work in about two weeks.

The extension will start at the Mississippi River bridge, otherwise known as Veterans Memorial Bridge.

The new road will turn slightly toward the southwest almost immediately past the bridge, then connect with La. 3127 about three-quarters of a mile east of La. 20.

It will be a two-lane road about 41/2 miles long and will cost about $14.3 million, all state money, Burst said.

DOTD spokeswoman Lindsay Ruiz de Chavez said the project should begin sometime next month and take about a year and a half to complete.

Ruiz de Chavez said the second phase of the project, which would make the extension a four-lane roadway, has not been bid out yet.

Ruiz de Chavez said the new extension would greatly reduce traffic on La. 18 and La. 20.

She said Vacherie residents who attended public meetings about the potential project complained about heavy truck traffic on those roads, and she said the new project should divert many of those trucks.

Burst and Ruiz de Chavez also said the new road should provide better hurricane-evacuation options for area residents.

Burst said environmental-impact studies are under way in the area south of 3127 to see if it would be feasible to extend 3123 all the way to Thibodaux.

Burst could not say when those studies might be finished.

He said several other options are being considered, although he said the direct connection to La. 3123 would be his preferred choice. Each option will have to be evaluated by the state and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to see which ones would be best for the environment and the nearby communities.

Eventually, the corps would narrow down the options to a few that could be presented to the public, Burst said.